Saturday, February 6, 2010

8.) Photovan does Taranaki

February 5 2008 .....

I just got back from my tour around mount Egmont / Taranaki New Zealand ..... the coastline was quite interesting ..

I'm still busy sorting my pictures out , on the first night I stayed at a bed and breakfast rather than in my van since it was next to this nice scenery where some steps led down to my own private beach ....

and a kitten to fill in for the cats at home that I was missing ....

I was looking forward to the sunset .

It looked good in both directions .....

a slow exposure turned the waves into mist ...

Heading for New Plymouth I saw this rock on the left asking to be climbed ....

With a good view from the top

going down was a bit more scary even though there was a cable to hang onto

The "bed and breakfast " I stayed at is part of a 2000 acre property that extends inland . Apparently Tom Cruise visited their waterfall during his off-time while filming "The Last Samurai" . It had a nice view .

Originally Posted by North of Auckland

That rock looks mental!

Some stunning scenes you captured on this trip mate.

Coming down that rock was a bit scary . Here are a few more form that trip ...

On Monday I was dissappointed that things were clouding over so I would miss the sunset ...

So I went back to the "photovan" and put on a movie rather because the wind was also picking up a bit .

"Obie Wan old buddy ! ....... "

Then suddenly the clouds went pink underneath at 8:15pm and I knew I had about 15 minutes before the sun was gone so I raced off to the beach again , when I stepped out of the van the sand was stinging my legs so I took a few shots out of the side window rather ...

Then I drove up to some long grass where the sandblasting wasn't as severe and ran out a bit and took this shot ....

That last picture was one of the few I ever spent more than 30 seconds editing .....

skeleton of the now extinct Moa .....they were larger than an ostrich and hunted to extinction in New Zealand .

a bit of a steep climb

almost like a skeleton ....

The photovan set up in the crummy little campsite I stayed in Monday night . Must be the cheapest campsite in the country at $8 per night or $9 if you want a power point .
I stayed there because it was very close to nice scenery . The thing on the roof is a solar powered rechargeable mosquito zapper , the 12 volt kettle was boiling away [ after 15 minutes !] and there are two ac power supply's connected to the two extra batteries inside - powered from the alternator when I'm driving .
The mosquito zapper has the advantage of letting you know when it has done its job , all you hear is bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .... CRACK , HISS , POP .... then you drift off to sleep again .

Quote from my February 6 post .....

Today I heard news that this abandoned factory burned down [ probably doesn't look much different ] this morning . It was at Patea , my second night's stop . It used to be a freezing works when the town was in its heyday but due to a strike for more pay it ended up being shut down .